Teachers deal with students' drug and alcohol abuse, report says

"Incidents occur on the weekend with binge drinking at parties and those kids then appear in the school yard": ANCD executive director Gino Vumbaca. Photo: Supplied

The binge drinking and drug taking culture among high school students is having a detrimental impact on schools, a survey of principals found, with teachers spending significant amounts of classroom time dealing with the fallout of weekend parties.

The report by the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) released on Thursday found many principals lack the human resources, funding and time to adequately address drug and alcohol related problems.

The executive director of the ANCD, Gino Vumbaca, said, while most alcohol and drug consumption occurred outside of schools, the repercussions spill into the school environment.

''Incidents occur on the weekend with binge drinking at parties and those kids then appear in the school yard on Monday morning and there might have been bullying or unsafe sexual activity that can spill over into a student's performance and behaviour at school,'' he said.

The report, based on a survey of principals from public, private and Catholic high schools, found students who drink alcohol or use drugs come to school late, tired and are often poorly behaved.

Mr Vumbaca said schools need far greater support from governments, communities and the drug and alcohol sector to address the challenges.

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''Principals would like to be able to access support and expertise in these areas to prepare and train teachers to deal with these issues as they arise,'' he said.

''There's a whole range of new drugs coming through and different patterns of drug use and it's hard for teachers to keep up.''

The president of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, Lila Mularczyk, said schools required ongoing professional learning and resources to address drug and alcohol abuse and the associated impact on learning.

''This may be in the form of counselling, medical attention and additional teacher time, often it may be a combination,'' she said.

She said one-off guest speakers were not as effective as classroom teachers in educating and supporting students.

Michael Egan, the principal of LaSalle Catholic College in Bankstown, said alcohol was the main drug of concern, ''largely because of the sheer availability''.

He said the school's response to alcohol or drug use would always be supportive rather than punitive.

''The care and concern for the students is our first priority,'' he said. ''There's no point moving a problem around or trying to push kids away.''

The majority of principals reported drug and alcohol education was delivered as part of the curriculum.